


The Cold Knows No Mercy

by Androgyninja



Series: ATLA Southern Water Tribe Fics [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Death, Minor Character Death, Protective Siblings, Southern Water Tribe, Stabbing, Waterbending & Waterbenders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:48:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27809362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Androgyninja/pseuds/Androgyninja
Summary: Sokka and Katara have been protecting each other for years.
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar)
Series: ATLA Southern Water Tribe Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034742
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	The Cold Knows No Mercy

It was supposed to be a simple hunting trip.

They’d been tracking the honey-reindeer for days, careful not to alert the herd of their presence as she and Sokka watched them.

It would be stupid to go after one of the mothers, and most of the bucks would be too large to carry back. They had lucked out in finding an injured elder, marked by the smaller size and thinner hair. It likely would have died before the season was over, so there was no need to chase after the healthier and harder to catch reindeer.

Katara had gone on these trips more times than she cared to count and the worst thing that had ever happened was nearly getting trampled when Sokka had startled the herd. Another possibility was coming home empty handed and having empty stomachs for weeks longer as they chewed on seal jerky, but the two of them bad become more successful over the years, and rarely came home without at least some sort of catch.

It was supposed to be a routine hunt, yet the Fire Nation soldier still had a blade to her brother’s throat.

The man had snuck up on them as they’d been giving thanks, interrupting the sacred process of acknowledging the ocean and the ice, a ritual that let the spirits know they had not taken a life in vain.

Sokka to his credit, stood as still as possible, his boomerang and club laying forgotten on the ground. He was smart enough not to tempt fate and attempt an escape with a weapon so close to his neck. If he was farther away, they might have stood a chance, but the bastard had snuck up on them, and the howling winds had concealed his footsteps.

The Fire Nation soldier was sneering, his dark red armour a stark contrast to the ice and snow around them. There was a sword hanging from his belt, and Katara thanked the Ocean that he wasn’t wearing a Firebender uniform.

_There was a man with a blade to her brother’s throat._

“You will lead me to your village, or I will slit his throat.”

Even if she considered that option for a second, it would take at least three days before they got anywhere close to home, something she doubted the soldier would have patience for.

_Don’t do it_. Sokka mouthed, shaking his head as much as possible without getting cut. _Run._

As if she could even _consider_ leaving him to the mercy of a Fire Nation soldier. Katara would not loose another family member, not to _them._

“Please don’t.” She pleaded.

“Are you deaf? Maybe I should finish him off to show you just how serious I’m being.” The knife sank into the tender flesh of Sokka’s throat.

The world suddenly became crystal clear.

Though she had no teacher but herself, though she trapped herself as often as her target and had difficulty doing anything more than basic movements, Katara was a Waterbender. That _meant_ something.

She’d been moving water as a toddler on her mother’s hip. She’d propelled canoes faster than any rower and had stabilized more igloos in the past three years than anyone else in the tribe.

Katara was a Waterbender, _and there was a man with a blade to her brother’s throat._

**_Freeze._ **

She commanded the water around her, pushing every fiber of her being behind the action.

**_You will obey me._ **

The Fire Nation soldier went completely still.

Unnaturally still.

Slowly, Sokka wrapped his hands around the man’s forearm, attempting to push it away.

A sickening crack was lost to the tundra as it came clean off.

Because Katara had frozen the soldier solid.

Sokka quickly dropped the limb, rushing to catch her before her knees buckled.

“I’m alive, I’m alive.” He murmured, holding her tightly in his grasp. “You saved me. It’s okay, I’m okay.”

Katara didn’t know what she would have done if he died, if one of her only remaining family had once again been claimed by the Fire Nation and this war-

But Sokka was alive.

She didn’t know how long they stayed there, clinging to one another and sobbing into each other’s heavy coats, but by the time they separated, the honey-reindeer had long gone cold.

“We should dispose of the body.” Was the first thing Sokka said.

Neither of them spoke as they threw the now dead man into the ocean, the soldier sinking quickly with his armor weighing him down.

They didn’t talk much on their way back to the village, but they kept watch much more vigilantly than usual.

Laying next to her deeply breathing brother, Katara couldn’t bring herself to regret anything at all.

…

Katara didn’t often practice her Waterbending in front of others.

Sokka knew it was because she didn’t want the rest of the tribe to see her fail, so see her attempt moves over and over only for the water to fall to the ground.

Even if she never said anything, he knew that being the last Waterbender weighed on Katara as much as being the oldest boy did on him-if not more. Her existence something of every tribe in the South Pole could cling to, something every man woman and child still hoping that that part of their culture had not yet been destroyed could point towards and believe in a better tomorrow.

It wasn’t fair to put all those expectations on a thirteen-year-old, but war wasn’t fair, and Sokka couldn’t remember a time when their world hadn’t been soaked in it.

After their mother’s death, it had been months before Katara had used Waterbending outside of accidents, guilt settling in those large blue eyes even as she tried to keep the family together. It didn’t help that even though the Fire Nation thought they’d killed the last Waterbender, they still conducted raids on the tribes.

That was why, no matter how far inland they were, no matter how secretive the area, Katara was always on constant lookout for any hint of Fire Nation. Every time they moved camp, she meticulously erased any trace of her bending for fear that someone would discover it and hunt them down again.

Though she didn’t know it, Sokka always knew when she left to practice, and would watch her in secret to make sure she was safe.

The majority of the time, he just got a front row seat to his sister failing at doing Waterbending more complicated than holding water or pushing and pulling it. Considering she had no teacher-no scrolls to pass down their techniques, and even the oral stories and instructions passed through the generations were hard to decrypt.

So Katara pushed and pulled for hours, controlling the swell of water with the smooth movements of her hands.

It was then that Sokka spotted him.

It was clear right away that he wasn't Water Tribe-his clothes too impersonal and the colours not quite right. He was standing behind an ice shelf wall-the large crevasse that Katara was practicing in providing many hiding spots-one of which he was using himself.

But the clothes were wrong and pure white, indicating that he didn’t want to be seen, meaning this was a stealth operation.

No one came to the South Pole unless they lived there or they were ordered to, and since it was clear this man didn’t live there, that would only mean one thing.

A Fire Nation spy had just witnessed his little sister Waterbending-even though all Waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribes had supposedly been wiped out.

A feeling of cold calm settled over Sokka.

It was easy to position himself near the exit of the crevasse, far away from where Katara was practicing and the closest way out unless you felt like climbing a hundred feet of sheer ice.

He crouched behind a mound of snow, waiting until he heard the telltale _crunch_ of snow-the footsteps too heavy to have been Katara’s.

The white cloaked man stepped out into the open tundra. The man was dressed for stealth, not defense, and he wore no helmet nor armor. Just breathable clothing that would permit intense and quick movement.

Sokka waited until he was fifty feet away before acting.

“Hey!” He called out.

The Fire Nation spy turned around just in time for Sokka’s boomerang to sink into the soft skin of his jugular.

The man dropped like a stone.

It wasn’t easy to move the spy’s body without spilling too much blood, but it was all worth it when he made it to the feeding grounds of Fox-bears.

Not long after he dropped the body, the deadly buggers popped out of their hiding places and began ripping into the dead man’s flesh. It wasn’t long before he was completely unrecognizable, and Sokka retreated before the animals decided _he_ looked pretty tasty too.

When Katara came home, her cheeks were bright red from the cold, but she had a sparkle in her eye.

“I think I figured out how to make a whip out of water!” She said excitedly.

Sokka hid his crimson drenched boomerang, smiling softly. “That’s great, sis.”

…

Their luck had run out.

They had known it was only a matter of time before the Fire Nation found them, but between Sokka’s navigation and Toph’s erasure of their tracks, Katara had hoped they would be able to avoid the enemy for just a little longer.

She should’ve known better.

All four elements were being thrown liberally; Toph sinking soldiers down to their neck in soil as Aang flew high above and knocked them off their feet. Katara was most occupied with extinguishing the largest flames cast out by the Firebenders, drawing from a nearby river as she iced them to the ground.

It was pure chaos, but then again, Katara had gotten used to chaos in these past few months. It reminded her in some way of the ocean-unpredictable and deaf to the whims of mortals. At the same time, there were so many things like home that some days her heart ached. Catching a fish and gutting it, drying meat so it would turn to jerky, huddling close for warmth as the wind blew around them harshly. It wasn’t the same, but it was close enough.

These people may not be her Tribe, but they were her friends, and she would fight for them just the same. For they had shared meals and bed roles and laughter and tears, and these people were as much her family as Sokka.

For them, she would bring kingdoms to their knees and make monarchs kneel. For them, she would face the Fire Lord himself and any of his children.

So Katara froze soldiers to the ground with ice, blasted them deep into the trees and made herself into a hurricane. Her feet moving in a dance only she knew the beat of as she forced those who would hurt her friends back.

She had learned many things over her travels, but one thing above all else. Katara was a Waterbender, and that meant she had to think a certain way in a fight. Water was adaptable, forever changing and shifting. That was how the ocean ruled. But Katara had grown up in a land of ice. Unmoving and hard. Cold and at times cruel.

So when she saw an archer in the woods, taking careful aim at her brother and only moments away from releasing the arrow, the decision was easy.

A column of ice appeared just as the archer released, stopping the arrow before it would hit Sokka. Katara pushed the ice outwards, creating several spikes that impaled the woman where she stood.

By doing so, she had left herself open.

A battle cry sounded behind her, and Katara had just enough time to see a blade descending upon her before a blurred figure came between them, running the soldier through.

Sokka yanked his sword out from the man’s gut. “You alright?” He questioned.

She nodded. “You?”

The two of them ducked as a jet of fire streamed over their heads.

“I’ll be better once these bastards are six feet under.” He fell into an easy stance. “You take the bender and I’ll get the ugly one with the hammer.”

The two children born of war and ice and death shared a terrible grin.

“Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, hope you're having a good day.
> 
> This fic is a part of a headcannon that i have towards the Southern Water Tribes. On account that i imagine their tribes would be smaller and considering they lived in brutal conditions, i imagine ruthlessness would be a necessity of life. When you literally live on a tundra, you don't have time to be squeamish. I also imagine that they're the type to do ANYTHING for family. They would go through hell to protect those they cared about, but, if you were the enemy? Well, i hope you weren't too attached to living.
> 
> It's mentioned several times that the tribes have been raided, and because they're lowkey sexist, i imagine that Sokka would have to step to the plate and kill scouts to give his tribe enough time to get away, and because Katara is Katara, there's no way she'd let him to it on his own. These are people who have experienced a lot of loss and grew up in a harsh environment, so i can see how this could play out. It's the smartest thing to do as well-eliminate the threat permanently so it can't come back to bite you in the ass-and in an unforgiving environment. They have practicality born from a need to survive.
> 
> I have another fic exploring this, so if this is something you're interested in, feel free to check it out.
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome, hate will be laughed at and the gay will be strong.
> 
> Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye


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